April 2017

Well, it’s been awhile since I wrote, so I thought I probably should again. The month of April was fairly busy, so it ended up going by quite fast.

One of the activities was a youth camp, attended by youth from the three churches of the PRCP, as well as from Provident Christian Church. Both Rev H and Rev Kleyn attended it, as part of the staff. They led some devotions and helped with games. The three ministers of the churches gave speeches. It was a fun time for all, and a great opportunity for Rev to meet many youth, and also practice his Tagalog a bit!

All of the youth- approximately 70 attended.
Speaking of Tagalog, our studies continue. It’s very challenging, but we feel like we are making progress. We definitely have a long ways to go, and I often make silly mistakes in class. Example: this past Tuesday, I was learning vegetables, as well as learning how to make simple statements and questions about them. I pointed to a potato, attempting to ask, “Is this a potato?” However, what came out of my mouth was, “Potato ka ba?” I’m sure any Filipinos reading this are already laughing, because what I ended up asking my teacher was, “Are you a potato?” She thought it was quite hilarious and we had a good laugh over it. Thankfully she was gracious and not offended by it! And despite these frequent mistakes, we both are working hard at it and progressing.

Vegetable vocabulary. These are all in a popular song called Bahay Kubo – our kids have learned it and love to sing it.Rev standing by the gate of His Name, our school.
This past Sunday, we were able to attend, and Rev preached at, PRCP in Bulacan. We’ve been mainly attending Provident, so this was our first time in Bulacan. It’s quite a distance from our home, and took almost 2 hours to get there. But, we loved the opportunity to get to know the saints there, and had a nice time of fellowship and lunch with them.

Gabe listening quite attentively to Dad preaching at Bulacan about “considering the birds”. (Matt 6:26)
For our many friends and family who wonder how we are doing…the answer is, very well! We still feel very positive about how the whole family is adjusting. There have been some challenges, but also so many blessings. We did a lot of reading about “culture shock” before we moved, and we can tell that that research has aided us tremendously in our move. We feel like we are constantly learning things, and that makes it quite exciting.

“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.” Proverbs 3:5-6.